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The former police officer who arrested Beto O'Rourke in 1998 and the sergeant who signed the report told the Texas Tribune he tried to flee the scene.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke rallies supporters at an April 16 campaign stop in Richmond, Va. The former police officer who arrested O'Rourke for DWI in 1998 and the sergeant who signed the report told the Texas Tribune he tried to flee, contradicting O'Rourke's version of events.(Bob Brown / The Associated Press)

WASHINGTON — The former police officer who arrested Beto O'Rourke in 1998 and the sergeant who signed the report told the Texas Tribune that they both believe what was in the report: that O'Rourke tried to flee the scene at the time of his DWI arrest.

The Democratic candidate for president has admitted before that he was intoxicated but has denied trying to flee the scene.

O'Rourke, one of eight Democratic presidential candidates at Texas Southern University on Thursday for a forum sponsored by She the People, addressed details about his arrest with reporters.

"I made a terrible mistake driving under the influence of alcohol," O'Rourke said. "I don't know what to say about something that happened 21 years ago except that I've offered my thoughts on this, my recollection, and stand by that."

The Tribune reported that the investigating officer, Richard Carrera, and his former supervisor, Gary Hargrove, could not recall specific details from that night more than 20 years ago. The men, who were with the Anthony Police Department, stand by the accuracy of the report they compiled and signed.

Hargrove, 71, oversaw the crash scene but does not remember being there. Hargrove said he reread the report after the Houston Chronicle revealed it during O'Rourke's Senate race against Ted Cruz.

The police report shows that O’Rourke, 26, was speeding in a 75 mph zone on Interstate 10 in Anthony, a town on the Texas-New Mexico line between El Paso and Las Cruces, N.M. According to the report, he lost control and hit a truck, careening into the median. An unnamed witness told police that "he attempted to leave the scene."

According to the report, when Carrera asked O’Rourke if he was injured, the officer couldn’t understand what he answered “due to slurred speech.” Seeing O’Rourke’s “glossy eyes” and smelling alcohol on his breath, Carrera asked him to exit the vehicle, and he “almost fell to the floor,” Carrera wrote.

O'Rourke said he only had two beers, but breathalyzer tests showed his blood alcohol level at 0.136 and 0.134, which was above the legal limit of 0.10 at the time.

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“He did something to lead the officers to believe that he was trying to get away,” Hargrove told the Tribune. “What they put down, I believed them.”

Until now, O'Rourke was the only person who came forward publicly about the incident. He told Vanity Fair that he had been drinking in El Paso with his father and later with a high school friend. He was taking his date home to Las Cruces when the crash occurred.

During last year’s Texas Tribune festival, O’Rourke said he reached out to the woman for the first time in more than 15 years and asked for her recollection of that evening. O’Rourke said during an on-stage interview with Tribune CEO Evan Smith that she had the same recollection he did.

"She said, ‘No, we were in the median of the road. We did not try to flee. I don’t know that there was anywhere we could have gone,’” O’Rourke said.

Carrera says he does not recall if there were any discussions about bringing charges against O'Rourke related to fleeing the scene.

Hargrave told the Tribune that the accident report he filed would have been copied and also sent to the Texas Department of Public Safety. It would have a sketch of the crash scene and should contain the witnesses name and affidavit.

Current Anthony Police Chief Carlos Enriquez said the only file the department has is the DWI report and breathalyzer analysis. DPS cited the expiration of the retention period for old files and could not find the accident report.

Political writer Gromer Jeffers Jr. contributed to this report from Houston.

Matthew Adams. Matthew is a Washington correspondent for the Dallas Morning News. Before that, he worked in the Houston Chronicle's Austin Bureau covering the Texas Legislature and state politics for The News and Observer in Raleigh. Matthew has degrees in journalism and radio-television-film from the University of Texas.